Glade Top National Forest Scenic Byway - one of Missouri's most beautiful drives (and bike rides)| Mark Twain National Forest

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Welcome to Glade Top Trail, a National Forest Scenic Byway in Missouri! 

This 23-mile Scenic Byway is named for the beautiful glades that surround the ridge tops where the Scenic Byway traverses.

Along the trail are seven overlook “pull-outs” that provide panoramic views that reach to the Springfield Plateau twenty miles to the northwest and forty miles south to the Boston Mountains in Arkansas. Visit the detail stop links below for more about each of the views.

The Glade Top Trail is little changed from the original road constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930’s. For twenty-three miles, the two-lane, all weather gravel road follows narrow ridge tops rising approximately 500 feet above the surrounding rolling countryside, and overlooks and passes through many limestone/dolomite glades interspersed with open and closed woodlands.

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Glade Top National Forest Scenic Byway - one of Missouri's most beautiful drives (and bike rides)| Mark Twain National Forest

MoBikeFed comment: The Glade Top Scenic Byway is one of Missouri's most beautiful drives. It's a great way to view fall leaves, for example, and was recently named Missouri's top Summer Solstice spot.

It's located in the beautiful Mark Twain National Forest of south-central Missouri.

Now the Glade Top Byway is an amazing bicycle route as well! You can choose 38 through 87 mile options for riding a loop including the Glade Top Byway:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31406056

The route is one of a group of road and gravel route options MoBikeFed has created in the area of Ava, Missouri:

https://ridewithgps.com/events/109421-ava-missouri-bicycling-best-gravel...

https://ridewithgps.com/events/108671-ava-missouri-bicycling-best-road-r...

You could easily spend a day, a weekend, or even a week in the Ava area - or, for example, camping in the nearby Mark Twain National Forest - and exploring some or all of these area route options.